Secret Santa 2013
by cmol8806
Summary: Booth has to take care of a toddler Christine all by himself. Written for Dukefan1982 as part of the 2013 Secret Santa exchange


**This is for Dukefan1982. There were three really good prompts, but this is the one the muse led me down. I hope this is close to what you may have expected. Later Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!**

"I love you very much," Brennan says almost desperately, increasing the strength of her hug. "I promise I will call at least once a day."

"No, Mommy," two-year-old Christine wiggles in her mother's arms. "Too tight."

"Easy Bones, or she'll pop like a blueberry," Booth smiles comfortingly, shrugging the strap of Brennan's bag more securely on his shoulder.

The small family is walking through the crowded airport, Christine held securely against Brennan, Booth trailing a step behind loaded down with bags. Stopping outside her gate, Brennan runs an anxious hand through her daughter's golden curls. The toddler smiles lovingly, her shoulders twitching up as her hair tickles her neck. Confronted with the contagious grin, Brennan smiles back and pulls Christine in for another hug, looking over at her partner.

"Maybe I should postpone my lecture."

"Bones, you've already pushed it back twice," Booth reminds her, resting a hand on her hip. "Look, you'll do fine, alright? You'll have all those college students sitting on the edge of their seats."

"Yes, but Christine's fever went down only yesterday morning-"

"Which means she's better," Booth interrupts, poking the baby to make her laugh. "See? She's fine."

Brennan looks unconvinced. "But if her fever returns-"

"Then I'll call in sick and give her baby Tylenol. Bones, its three days. We'll be fine," Booth sighs in exasperation. "You know, I have taken care of a baby by myself before. Little boy, smart, funny, extremely handsome like his old man. Likes to be called Parker. Ring any bells?"

"I suppose you are somewhat qualified," Brennan teases, a genuine smile finally breaking through. She looks at the gate as a flight attendant announces the beginning of boarding. With a final shaky sigh, she hugs Christine, kissing the child's hair. "I love you, Christine."

"Love Mommy," she smiles widely, hugging back tightly.

"Alright, Chrissy, let's let Mommy get on her plane," Booth places his daughter on his hip, snagging Brennan around the waist to bring her close. "We'll see you in three days. I love you, Bones."

"I love you too," she says softly, tilting her head to accept his deep kiss.

All too soon they break apart, their noses rubbing together affectionately. Brennan picks up all her bags and with a final wave to her family, she boards her plane. Booth waves with his daughter until she's no longer in sight. With a sigh that betrays his earlier lighter tone, he walks away to take his daughter home.

"It's just me and you, Princess," he smiles down at the angel in his arms.

She giggles, resting her head on the curve of his shoulder. "Chrissy and Daddy."

* * *

"Daddy?" Christine chirps from holding court on the floor of the living room.

"Hmm?" Booth hums distractedly from the couch, filling out paper work from the most recent case.

Christine frowns, much like her mother, knowing she doesn't have her father's attention. Her green princess dress rustles as she stands and all but hops to the couch. She climbs up, months of practice making her quick, and leans over to put her face inches from Booth's.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, baby?" Booth can't help but smile, pushing a curl away from her still creased forehead.

"Where's Mommy?"

Booth sighs, replacing the paperwork on his lap with Christine. "Mommy went on a plane remember?"

"She back now?" the little girl pouts, her bright blue eyes already threatening tears.

"No, baby," Booth croons softly. "She can't come back now."

"Yes! She come back now!"

Booth closes his eyes at the tearful outburst. These tantrums, filled with crying, yelling and angry jumping have become frequent recently as the child has been testing what behavior she can get away with. Having inherited both parents' stubbornness, these tantrums have become quite an obstacle requiring both Booth and Brennan's tactics to settle the child.

"Chrissy, Mommy will be back soon," Booth tries to soothe, holding her firmly as she tries to flop to her back.

"No she won't!" She cries stubbornly, trying to twist away from her father. "I want Mommy!"

"Christine," Booth says more firmly, struggling to keep a hold of his wiggling child. "That's enough."

"No!"

As nothing he says is having effect to Christine's yelling, Booth takes a deep breath and dreads the long night ahead of him.

The rest of the night stays on the same path as far as Christine's behavior. With a single mindedness quite extraordinary for a child as young as she, she refuses to give up her demand to have her mother back. With one sentence, Booth had become the number one enemy to Christine's happiness and nothing could persuade her otherwise. "No" became her answer no matter the question and any persistence only increased her obstinate attitude.

"Christine, eat your peas," Booth tries to say firmly through his tiredness, rubbing his forehead.

"No, I don't want peas," Christine wails, hands secured over her mouth tightly. "I don't want them!"

"You have to eat, baby," he says coaxingly, knowing that at least the worst edge of her temper is from hunger. "How about some noodles?"

"No! No!" she cries, pushing her plate of peas, which any other day she adores, as far away from her as possible. Tears are starting to trail down her red face, slicing at his heart. "Apples, Daddy."

Booth suppress a groan; of course she would ask for the one thing that they've run out of. Already knowing how well that news will go over, Booth gives up. "How about pizza?"

Instantly the tears stop, the red cheeks dimpling with a huge smile. "Yeah, pizza!"

With a chuckle of relief, Booth picks up the phone.

* * *

"Agent Booth, I got those records of…" Charlie looks up from the file in his hands and pauses just inside Booth's office.

Charlie gapes at the usually crisply dressed and alert agent slumped back in his chair, an orange stain on his shirt, slacked jawed and snoring loudly. Charlie has been working with Booth for years now and having great respect for the Special Agent, he decides that the best thing to do is to wake Booth up, no matter the potential risk of bodily harm. Edging closer, Charlie wisely decides to stay on the other side of the desk, knocking his knuckles against the wood.

"Booth."

"Yeah!" he jerks up, hand instinctively moving to touch his gun. It takes him less than a second to sum up his surroundings and with a clearing of his throat, he runs his hand down his tie. "Yeah, Charlie, what have you got for me?"

"Phone records," Charlie hands them over, smiling sympathetically as he knows Brennan is out of town. "Your daughter give you a long night?"

"Hell of a long night," Booth pinches his nose, leaning his head back. "That girl is more hard headed than her mother."

"Well, I think a strong will is a good thing for a daughter to have," Charlie shrugs. "At least you know no one will talk her into anything she doesn't want to do."

"Huh, good point," Booth sits up, reaching for the file. "Thanks."

After five minutes of attempting to make the rows of numbers make sense, Booth gives up and leans back in his chair. True to form, after finally eating the pizza for dinner Christine had refused to go with the program the night before. Bath time had been a struggle against drowning as Christine flopped all around, her piercing yells to get out echoing through the bathroom to pound in Booth's skull. After the struggle to dress her, Booth had nothing left to fight bedtime, so he simply succumbed to letting her sit with him as he watched TV, one of her tiny hands pinching the skin between his thumb and finger. The last he looked at the clock it was almost one in the morning and those little pinchers were still going.

Schedules had to be kept, so though they both could have used a few more hours of sleep, Booth had to wake his daughter to get ready for the day and she was not happy. Breakfast with the cranky two-year-old was another battle of wills that Booth again lost, promising to buy a donut on the way to daycare. A promise that quickly bit him in the ass when Brennan called and Christine promptly told her that Daddy was going to give her a chocolate sprinkle donut. That announcement was quickly followed by the divulgence of her dinner and Booth had to endure a twenty minute lecture on a healthy diet for their child, all while attempting to get out the door with said child. With more yelling and crying, Christine was deposited at the Jeffersonian day care and Booth arrived at work only to promptly fall asleep at his desk.

The ring of his cell phone raises Booth from his slight doze and he quickly shuffles through the papers on his desk to find it.

"Booth," he answers, cringing at the familiar wails sounding behind the voice from the phone. "Yeah, I'll come get her. Will you tell her I'm on my way? Thanks."

* * *

"I'm sorry, Agent Booth, but she's hasn't calmed down since you left."

"No, she's been giving me the same problem," Booth smiles apologetically to the day care provider, walking towards his crying child. "Her mother's out of town and she's not taking it well."

"I want Mommy!" Christine yells, rolling away as Booth tries to scoop her up. "No! Mommy!"

"Christine, let's go," Booth grunts, finally capturing her and holding her in his arms as she fiercely shakes her head. He smiles a little embarrassedly at the workers as he leaves.

The drive to the house is a cacophony of noise, no words from Booth able to pierce through the wails. Losing the last shred of his patience, Booth shuts the front door with a snap and Christine instantaneously throws up a mash of doughnut sprinkles and applesauce all over his newly cleaned jacket.

"Ooohhh, Daddy," Christine now hiccups her sobs, laying her head on Booth's clean shoulder. "I sick!"

"Okay, baby, it's ok," Booth soothes, concern for his daughter and disgust at the foul smelling mess on his shoulder battling it out inside his head.

Concern easily wins soon, as a check of Christine's temperature reveals a low grade fever. Booth quickly cleans both of them up, changing her into her most comfortable pajamas. Gathering her favorite blanket and stuffed dog, Booth settles on the couch with Christine, prepared for the battle he has faced many times with Parker.

"Okay, baby girl," he cradles his daughter against his left arm, the right raising with the prefilled dropper of medicine. "This is going to make you feel better, okay?"

"No, Daddy," she shakes her head, crying into his chest. "Yucky, no, yucky!"

Booth sighs. "Just real quick, Chrissy. Then it'll be all gone and Daddy will hold you all night, ok?"

"No," she cries, kicking her legs.

Feeling the heat of her forehead against his chin, Booth falls back on a tried and true tactic: bribery.

"Chrissy, take your medicine and Daddy will give you chocolate," he tempts, peeking down at her scrunched face. One little blue eye looks up at him and he smiles. "I promise. Medicine first, then chocolate."

"Okay," Christine reveals her face, tears still leaking out of her eyes. She obediently opens her mouth and gulps down the small dose of red medicine and then instantly buries her face back in her father's chest. "Now chocolate."

"Now chocolate for my beautiful girl," Booth agrees in a soft, soothing voice, carrying his child to the kitchen to retrieve Brennan's stash of chocolate.

Christine refuses to leave her father's arms for the rest of the day, whimpering whenever he tries to set her down. Knowing she feels horrible, Booth gladly surrenders his own comfort and paces the house, Christine tucked securely against his chest. He suggests dinner choices without much conviction, knowing that she has little to no appetite. Instead she feasts on a dinner of cherry popsicles while sitting in her father's lap on the couch, one of her tiny pale arms wrapped around his. For his part, Booth made himself a sandwich one handed, swaying his baby girl and murmuring sweet words of comfort into her blond curls.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't need some help?"

"No thank you," Brennan nods at the cab driver, handing him a healthily tip with the fare and walking away without another word.

Being as quiet as she can, she opens the door. It's after midnight and she doesn't want to wake up Christine. She softly closes the door behind her, locking it and leaving her bags where they lay to move deeper into the house. The flickering light of the TV draws her away from the stairs and into the living room. She pauses and smiles warmly at the sight that greets her.

Booth is laying back on the couch, hair disheveled and a thin line of drool dripping down the side of his mouth. On his chest is a sleeping Christine, red stained lips open in a gape identical to her father. Sheltered in her father's comforting arms, Christine's small breaths huff out almost in tune with Booth's.

Not wanting to startle either, Brennan removes her boots before walking quietly over to her sleeping partner's head. Kneeling, she first runs a finger down the soft cheek of her daughter, almost overwhelmed by the love that fills her heart. Riding the wave of love, she leans over Booth, kissing his lips softly as she does to wake him each morning.

"Mmm," he hums deep in his chest, eye blinking open as the wonderfully soft lips disappear. "Bones?"

"Hi," she whispers, smiling down at him and rubbing his forehead with one gently finger. "I came home early."

"Yeah, I see that," Booth smiles sleepily, one hand tugging her hair gently to bring her back to for a more satisfying kiss. "Welcome home."

"Mommy?" a tiny voice breaks them apart. They look down just as two little arms reach out towards Brennan. "Mommy."

"Shh. Mommy's here," Brennan soothes, holding her daughter delicately against her. "Go back to sleep Christine."

"Mommy, I sick," Christine whimpers, burying her head into her mother's neck.

"Did she receive her medicine?" Brennan sharply asks Booth, instinctively resting her cheek against Christine's to check her temperature.

"Yeah, I gave it to her, Bones," Booth assures her, sitting up. "She isn't due for more for a couple of hours."

"Daddy gave me chocolate too," Christine informs her mother seriously, shifting to rest more comfortably against Brennan body.

"Chocolate?" Brennan glares disapprovingly down at her partner.

Booth covers his face with hands and flops down the couch.

**What did you think? Please review and let me know**


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